The Sick Kids Society
by cereallkiller
Summary: James and Sirius are spending their senior internship in St. Beverly's Children's Hospital, Remus Lupin is spending his life in St. Beverly's Children's Hospital. non-magical hospital AU, Wolfstar, Jily
1. Chapter I (Introduction)

**November 15** **th** **2015, 10:52 AM;**

**James and Sirius**

"How could this happen?" James moaned, dragging down the flesh of his cheeks with both palms. "We're only a week off the deadline!"

Sirius felt himself becoming nauseous the third time he furiously clicked through the email.

 _Sirius Orion Black,_

 _It has come to the school board's attention that you and Mr. James Potter have yet to sign up for your senior internships, which I'm sure you've been informed is mandatory for your graduation this year from St. Godric's school for boys. I have taken notice of your and Mr. Potters close relationship and pulled some strings as to acquire somewhere with room for the both of you, St. Beverly's Children's Hospital to be exact. You'll find the address under the attached link, please forward this email to Mr. Potter. You can thank me later, Black._

 _-Minerva McGonagall_

"No, no, no! I can't do it, I won't!" James whined, collapsing backwards onto his four poster bed with another soft groan. "We can't be nurses, we're boys! Young, healthy boys who intend to live past twenty-five. I told you she'd be the one to kill us, I told you!"

"Get a hold of yourself, Prongs!" Sirius whipped around in his office stool, tearing his eyes away from the screen of James' desktop. "We aren't going to die. We'll just, uh. Lay low. Joyrides in wheel chairs, snack machines, etcetera." Sirius felt his shoulders failing him, all the summer fun, all of their plans. Gone. Just like that, with their negligence to find bearable internships and an email from their principle.

"Oh god, you're right," Sirius admitted defeat with a sigh, smoothing his hair back in his stress before letting his arms fall numb at his sides. "Well, when do we start?" James questioned after a solid minute of dead, depressing silence. Sirius silently pulled himself back to face the desk, reading the email one last time before clicking the blinking paperclip on the lower right corner of the email, bringing up a Microsoft page of neat bullet points. "Uh, James. What day is it today?"

"Sunday, why?"

"Twenty-five minutes."

"What?"

"The internship starts in twenty five minutes."

James sat up abruptly, cussing under his breath. "Well, where is it?" He demanded urgently. Too impatient for Sirius to read out the entire address, James moved to hover over his shoulder, still murmuring swears. "That's forty-five minutes away! What happens if we aren't there on time?"

"We're fired," Sirius deadpanned, glancing nervously over his shoulder. "What happens if were fired?" James gestured for him to move faster. "What d'you bloody think happens if we're fired?" Sirius roared, rocketing up on his tipy toes. "We don't graduate!"

"Fuckin' hell!" James growled behind his jaw, racing to his wardrobe to filter through clothes thrown discarded on the floor until he found a brown windbreaker he deemed acceptable. "Well c'mon then! Why're you just standing there!" James snapped, pulling the jacket over one shoulder before tripping his way through tying his sneakers. "You know what this means, don't you?" Sirius flashed him a wicked grin, James looked up, suddenly very pale. "Sirius, _no_."

" _Sirius, yes"_ Sirius nodded his head vigorously. "We are not driving that death trap, we might as well end up signing ourselves into that bloody hospital."

"My motorbike is perfectly safe, thank you very much," Sirius tilted his chin upward, crossing his arms.

"I'd be a lot less worried about that stupid bike if you actually had a license to drive it," James scoffed, starting down the hall with Sirius on the back of his heels. "Don't be such buzz kill, Prongs." Sirius smirked, snatching a blue bike helmet from the hat rack and shoving it to his best friend's chest. "See? I'm safe."

…

 **November 15** **th** **2015, 3:57;**

 **Remus and Tonks**

Most children are accustomed to waking up in the morning to the blare of their alarm clock and the aroma of eggs and toast, Remus Lupin does not have the luxury of an alarm clock, instead he shares a sleeping space with the loudest of the schizophrenics, the one and only, Tonks. Blood curdling screams bounce off the interior of his eardrums, the thrashing of sheets and limbs project into shadows against the previously calming, dust speckled moonlight.

"Frank," Remus groaned miserably, massaging the sleep from his eyes with his knuckles. "Youget'er," a tired, faint voice moans from the mass nest of sheets in the twin bed beside him. With a pause and a sigh Remus swung his bare, numb feet to the cold tile floors. Taking a second to feel for his glasses on the nightstand and let his eyes adjust before hurrying to the side of the still screaming, still thrashing 10 year old girl closest to the window. His oxygen tank wobbling along behind him.

"Hey, hey Tonks! Shhh, hey. It's alright, you're alright. Shhh Hey, you just got out of psych, I know you don't want to go back, Tonks, come on." He whispered, crouching down beside her and gently holding her sweaty wrists to put a stop to the thrashing. She sobbed against him, sucking up greedy, rapid breaths. "R-R-R-Remus, t-the ants. They're in my hair again Remus, y-you have to believe m-m-me!" Tonks wheezed, repeatedly colliding her forehead with his left collarbone.

"Hey, hey. I believe you Tonks. I believe you," he moved her wrists so she sat with her bone thin legs dangling over the side of her mattress, her doughy brown eyes rimmed with red staring him down, locks of bright pink hair stuck to her red cheeks with sweat and snot and tears. It wasn't often for her that she was told by anyone other than Frank or himself those three little words and it broke his heart endlessly. "I believe you, Tonks"

"Remus, the ants, you have to help me, you have to get them o-out," she sniffled, her sobs reduced to steady tears. "I'm tired, Remus. I see them there nearly every night and I need them gone, and I'm so so tired, I just want, I just want them to be g-g-gone," her breath caught in her throat, her eyes welling up again and whimpers filtering through her quivering white lips. "Hey, hey don't do that," he squeezed her hands gently as he thought up a solution to the imaginary ant problem.

"Hey, you know what we'll do?" he smiled, leading her by the hands off her bed and across their room to the exit way. "W-what?" She asked, wiping her cheeks with the sleeves of her gown. "Hold this for me," he lifted his green oxygen tank into her skinny pink-tinted arms before leading her into the dark hall of the hospital, doing his best to remain noiseless.

It didn't take them long to arrive at their destination, the third floor girls private bathroom. Tonks watched him curiously, but remained silent. He took back the oxygen tank, watching her hands immediately move to thread through her hair before he crouched down to his knees, feeling over the underside of the counters. He checked the backs of the sink pipes until he found what he was looking for, a surface far too sleek to be the grimy, dusty backsides of the hospital sinks. "Bingo," he grinned, tearing away the silver duct tape that held them in place.

Tonks returned his goofy smile when he stood up, presenting to her a pair of silver barber shears. "Alice snuck them in last week," he explained, lifting her up and onto the granite counter top, "No more ants?" Remus held the shears around her bubblegum pink hair, just above her chin. "No more ants," she agreed.

 **November 13th 2015, 11:27 AM**

 **Marlene and Alice**

"Where are Mom and Dad?" Marlene demanded coldly, crossing her arms against her chest and sitting up tall, despite being on the verge of tears. The taller girl sighed, looking up at the ceiling like she'd just been told to do the dishes. "Where are mom and dad, Maddi?" Marlene tried again, looking down at her lap, her head bobbing up and down with each word. "They're busy people. You really can't expect them to show up at a moments notice, can you? Besides It's not like you've ever cleared your schedule for them." Maddi tightened her pony tail, an annoying habit that especially got on Marlene's nerves today.

"They aren't coming?" Marlene scoffed, nearly laughed in her disbelief. Maddi shrugged, holding herself in a way that made her look distant, bored even. It infuriated Marlene to no ends. "They'd come if it were you," Marlene spit, the sheets held at her sides in a death grip. That got her attention. "They'd come if you were sitting here, instead of me. If you overdosed, o-on your stupid fucking heroine! You stupid fucking, junkie!" Marlene roared, throwing her arms up boneless to fall down over her eyes, she shook her head, chuckling silently.

Maddi's eyes darted around in shock horror to make sure no one was listening in on them. "Would you keep your voice down? You know if anyone-!"

"They'd come for you Maddi!" Marlene sniffed, wiping violently at her cheeks. She hated that she cried when she was angry, which she almost always was. "You can't blame me, Marlene." Maddi balled her fists, her face going pink in its entirety _._ " _I came_ , and I know you wouldn't if it _was_ me in that hospital bed." With that Maddi decided the conversation, or the visit wouldn't be worth her while and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Marlene emitted a pitched growl from the back of her throat, feeling for the closest thing that wasn't nailed down and flinging it to the avocado green stucco wall, which just so happened to be a TV remote. It projected a satisfying _'thump!"_ but left no dents. The next second the door opened a crack, Marlene glared up hatefully, expecting to come face to face with Maddi once again, but in her place she found a pair of wide, green eyes, staring curiously back from the doorway.

"What en hell.." a small voice with a thick Russian accent faded out as the green eyes slowly trailed down to their owners feet, where the remote lay motionless. "Sorry," Marlene mumbled, giving up her posture. "Es not my wall," the girl shrugged, continuing across the room. " _Well_ , et kinda es."

"What." Marlene deadpanned. "We are rroom mate," the green eyed girl held up her purple duffle bag for emphasis. "Why dju theenk there was two extra beds en here?"

Marlene watched the Russian girl unpack into the small white dresser beside the bed closest to the window, stacking paperback books on the nightstand, and hunting down power outlets. "So, I take it your not new here?" Marlene asked, obviously not as content as her with the thick silence hung between them. "No," she answered bluntly, without taking her eyes from the jewelry she was working on untangling. "What happened to your room mate before me?"

"Dyeed," she hummed indifferently. " _What?_ " Marlene yelped, her voice cracking and her cheeks flushing white. The Russian girl smirked into her lap, her eyes flickering up. "Keeding, she's home."

"That's, that's morbid!" Marlene shrieked, wiping at her eyes. "Are ju cryeeng?" the girl's voice softened noticeably. "No!" Marlene snapped, straining her neck the other way. "I am sore-e."

"It's fine, I'm fine," Marlene insisted. Taking a second to compose herself, before turning back to look at the green eyed girl, who was looking right back at her. Concern numbing her sharp stare. "What's your name?" Marlene asked quietly, determined not to let herself cry. "Uhm, Alyona Masson, Alice in Engleesh."

"I'm Marlene Mckinnon"

Alice chuckled lightly. "What?" Marlene asked, minding her tone to not sound defensive. "Deed ju know ju have ze same last name as ze mayor? I deednt thenk "McKinnon" was that popular, that es all."

Marlene felt her mouth go dry. "No, I didn't know."

 **November 15th 2015, 11:12 AM**

 **Lily**

By some miracle James and Sirius arrived at the hospital speeding ticket and injury free, the duo now stood before a woman with bushy red hair sat leisurely at the front desk, filling her nails and paying them no more attention than you would a fly on the wall. "Err, hello," James cleared his throat, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. "Mmm?" the ginger secretary nodded without looking up. "We're uh, the interns. From Godric's," Sirius tried when James was dismissed, this caught her attention. "Oh are you really?" she asked, glancing down at a leather wrist watch. "You are seven minutes and forty-seven seconds late." She observed, looking over their nervous expressions. "Well, that's alright," she shrugged. "You can stay seven minutes and forty-seven seconds late to make up for it."

"Oh, okay then. Should we-" James began, but faded out when she held up a finger to shush them, using her other hand to push a Bluetooth earpiece further against the side of her cheek. "Excuse me boys," she mumbled, practically flinging herself out of her office chair and starting down a florescent white hall to their left with impressive sped. James and Sirius shot each other a look of mutual understanding before firing after her. "Where 're we going nurse lady?" Sirius called, but she didn't answer, shouting unintelligible commands into her bluetooth, by now the three of them were in an all-out sprint, her pearl white sneakers squeaking against the shiny tile floors. James and Sirius decided to pass the time shooting their questions into either of the redheaded nurse's ears.

"What's going on?"

"Is everything okay?"

"Was someone shot?"

"Where are we going?"

" _We_ , aren't going anywhere." the nurse extended her arms at her sides, blocking them from moving any further down the corridor. "Excuse me boys," she eyed them nervously before disappearing behind a set of white double doors, James and Sirius pressed their noses to each of the blurred glass rectangles, trying their hardest to interpret what was happening outside. Red and blue lights flashed and that familiar siren blared, the siren that always meant trouble. Almost as soon as the nurse disappeared behind the white double doors they swung open again, causing James and Sirius to stumble backward as they were faced with a hoard of shouting men in all blue, they surrounded a gurney. some held beeping equipment most were just focusing on the gurney, or rather whoever occupied it.

James and Sirius were left unnoticed as they chased the huddled doctors back down the fluorescent white corridor, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever the big fuss was about, and when James did, he stopped dead in his tracks, watching the mob continue on down the never-ending hall, back to the lobby, but his feet felt like cement. It took Sirius a moment to take notice that James was no longer at his side, looking over his shoulder.

"Hey, mate? You alrigh- woah!" Sirius jogged back just in time to catch James by the elbows when his knees buckled below him, his feet remaining glued in place. Only did they really budge when James scrambled to his knees, ducking his head into the nearest potted plant and spilling his guts all over the fertilizer. She had such a pretty face, the problem was the left of her forehead was nothing but flesh and blood and bone, oh god. He saw her bones'. He saw her skull, he really did. There was glass, glass in her cheek and glass in her chest, and that hair- oh god that hair. It was deep red, but obviously not red enough, because it was stuck together with dry blood. Like, like bubblegum. He remembered Mrs. Potter sitting Sirius down and having to shave everything off, he remembered Sirius crying all the way through, and he might have smirked into that potted plant if he hadn't gagged first.

That girl was going to die.


	2. Chapter II (Birthday Cake and Comas)

**November 16th 2015, 11:37 AM**

 **James**

The next day, James found himself growing restless. His mind wandered as he fulfilled his interning duties, which resulted in many side effects and screw ups, the most popular of which was delivering the wrong prescriptions. Sirius had quite the laugh as he was scolded by secretary lady for giving medical marijuana to the clinically insane. He was aware lack of concentration working as a nurse was potentially problematic, but he couldn't help but think about where the dying girl was.

James later learned from Secretary lady, (after nearly an hour of pestering,) that the dying girl was in fact, not really dying. Though he couldn't much shake the nickname, probably because that was the only way he knew her. As the dying girl with the pretty face. James tried to explain this to secretary lady, but she wouldn't budge. "All I want is her room number," James pleaded, holding his hands in a prayer.

"Are you her emergency contact?" She sighed, holding her hands on her hips. "Well, not technically.."

" _Do you even know her name?_ " Secretary lady scoffed, raising her brows in question. "Uhh, no."

"Can't help you kid," she shrugged, pushing her glasses further up the bridge of her nose and diverting her attention back to the black plastic keyboard.

"Please, let me _just_ go check on her. That's my job right? She must be hungry. Just cut me some slack, secretary lady." He begged, falling to his knees on the linoleum carpet, attracting a few odd looks from other nurses. "Molly," secretary lady glared halfheartedly at him over her spectacles, pursing her glossy cherry lips. "Is that her name?" James asked hopefully, his face lighting up. "No, that's my name. I'd appreciate if you'd stop calling me that."

James groaned, dragging himself back up to his feet. "You are mean, Molly the secretary lady."

"And you have a creepy infatuation with a coma patient," Molly huffed, her voice slurring on the last few words as she came in realization of what she'd revealed. "God, dammit."

"She's in a coma?" James asked with a bitter frown.

"A deal breaker, is it Potter?"

 **Sirius**

"What in hell is that?" Sirius scoffed, his dark eyes flickering with amusement as he looked over Remus suspiciously, who sat in bed reading. "Uhh, To Kill a Mockingbird," Remus mumbled, holding up the novel cover, cautious not to let his eye level leave the page. "Not that!" Sirius waved him off dismissively, setting down the grilled cheese and tomato soup platter and jogging across the room, fingering a bulletin board overflowing with Polaroids of empty skies. " _That._ What is that?"

Remus' face paled green, finally dropping the precious book to his knees when a little girl appeared in the doorway, eyeballing Sirius like a meal. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came. Instead she puckered her lips, stalking slowly towards Sirius, unnervingly slow. Remus tried to warn Sirius with his eyes, but he didn't know what he'd done wrong.

You could tell by the way she walked that she was weird, different. From the too-big boots to the choppy pink hair, cut a little above her chin. Even at the speed of a snail, she stumbled and paused and like an army vet with a set of prosthetic legs and a past full of land mines. She stared, brown eyes bulging and his extended pointer finger but said nothing. Eventually Sirius caught on, mouthing _"oh"_ and letting his wrist fall. The girl's shoulders slackened and she smiled up at him, lacking in 2/2 of her front teeth. "Is this yours?" He asked, slaughtering the moment of blissful relief in Remus' eyes. "Uhu," she nodded aggressively. Smiling even wider with the recognition of her mental masterpiece.

"What's it for?" He snickered, turning back to gawk at the tens, maybe hundreds of the same light blue sky. Remus cleared his throat, gaining no attention from him, or the girl, who'd already started squealing with the corners of her lips stretched ear to ear. "It's for the whales, for when they come back."

"What whale-"

"Can you please go ask Molly for a new tank, this one feels empty," Remus coughed for emphasis, his glaring eyes never leaving Sirius. The thin boy with the sandy blonde curls was stood now, fists balled at his sides.

"You just got a new one," the little girl moaned, shooting Remus an irritated look, "I'm talking to my new friend." She diverted her attention back to Sirius, the smile fading back in as she rocked on the balls of her feet. Any other time Remus would have been jealous. "Why would you take empty pictures?" Sirius asked the girl, but now stared directly at the light haired boy, his expression totally indifferent as he silently pushed him closer to the edge of break. Eager to see what dramatics had his panties in such a bunch.

"They, they aren't empty," she scoffed, looking at him like you would a psychopath but her voice betrayed her, cracking with a tired insecurity near the end, like she'd heard this many times before. "I take pictures of the beautiful yellow whales outside of my window," she said slowly as if trying to convince not only him but herself, gesturing her head to the wall made up of only overlooking glass furthest from the door.

Sirius forgot of the light haired boy's presence in the room, staring down at the doughy eyed little girl in bewilderment before turning to glance over the overlapping collage once again, this time his gaze snagged on the several thick purple envelops stacked neatly on her nightstand, no doubt more pictures. She flinched when he untucked the thin paper, pulling out a stack of backgrounds missing their models. "Here, this one is good. See?" He held up a yellowing Polaroid of Tonks maybe three years younger, holding out the camera to capture her and an older blonde woman with graying hair and the very same chocolate brown eyes. "This is your mum, yeah?"

Tonks made a grab for the photograph, crumpling the negative in her fist. "That shouldn't have been in there." She spoke to her boots, bobbing her head with each word. Remus looked far more concerned with Tonks than angry with Sirius at this point. "I-I like the whale one's better anyways," she lifted her chin up fearlessly, making herself tall. "Don't you think?"

Sirius smirked, kneeling down past her level, but she refused to let up, with her spine held straight as a board. "You have quite an imagination."

 **July 11th 2012**

 **Tonks**

 _Baton Rogue, Louisiana_

 _three years prior..._

Louisiana wasn't always the best place to spend the summer, or your life. But to Andromeda and Ted, it was heaven sent, to Nymphadora Tonks, it was the only home she knew. July was the worst of it, all of her photographs came blurry from the humidity and the adults decided everything for her. How she wore her hair, when to sleep and that her birthday party should be spent in the scorching heat of the Jackson's farm just off Alegra Lane.

She wouldn't tell anyone about the BB handgun tucked into her waistband, it was for her own safety, after all. She tended to see bad things on the Jackson's farm just off Alegra Lane. Bad things no one else saw. Her mom told her it was all in her head, that it was normal for children her age to be imaginative, but she wasn't so sure. She hadn't felt normal in a long time, a long time, that is, through the eyes of a seven year old.

"Dora!" Andromeda called, interrupting her invested scouting through the fields, one that would almost definitely result in ticks. She waved her daughter over towards the patio while Ted ignited the eight candles placed neatly in the strawberry cake, spread with mounds of pink icing. Tonks hated strawberry cake spread with mounds of pink icing more than she hated being called by name, but she supposed it was to be photogenic rather than enjoyable, the pink icing the exact shade of her hair.

She dragged her sneakers, dirty and damp from the swampy ground through the scorched lemon grass in hopes no one would notice. Her parents smiled kindly, sitting her down in front of the strawberry cake, which was not only making her stomach churn at the thought of it's spongy surface coming in contact with her taste buds but, much much much uglier up close.

Relatives crowded her with digital cameras expectantly, no one said anything for a minute, the only audio the distant roar of crickets chirping in union somewhere in the swamp lands. Her mother squeezed her shoulder, a silent reminder of what she was supposed to do. Parting her lips in an O, aunts and uncles and everyone leaned in so far with their lenses the sun barely shone through, holding their breaths. But before exhaling onto the flickering blue flame, Tonks had a better idea.

Not smiling in the slightest, she brought her thumb to her lips, licking a line up the calloused pad of her finger. Then she looked up at every lens, still not smiling, and extinguished each and every candle in pinches, holding up her thumb burnt black to the cameras but no one snapped a picture, lowering their lenses in disappointment and stepping down. Tonks smirked. 'Right, well," Ted cleared his throat awkwardly, shooting Tonks a look but she only widened her grin in return.

He cut the cake, and Tonks' smile twitched, faltered, then fell in horror. She fell back in her seat, kicking against the water-stained mahogany planks with her dirty sneakers until her back hit the exterior of the house. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came, only whimpering hyperventilation. "Dora!" Andromeda gasped, rushing to the side of her daughter, the back of her hand held against her brain.

"Why, why would you do that?" Tonks exploded into sobs, still kicking at the patio. "Do what, sweetie, do what?" She shook her head, eyes tearing up. Relatives were leaning over the tabletop to watch and whisper, Ted had dashed to her other side. "Do what?" Ted demanded, holding her hand in both of his. "T-t-t-the cake!" Tonks sobbed, squeezing her eyes shut tight.

She felt the absence if her parent's worrying hands and opened her rapidly blurring eyes, letting the tears spill. Ted and Andromeda were looking right at each other, before turning their attention back to Tonks, this time their expressions projected equal parts fury and disbelief. "The cake?" Andromeda wiped angrily at her cheeks. Her voice was raspy and a little humorous but mostly bitter. "This, this is about the cake?" Ted rubbed his temples in irritation.

Tonks nodded, confused with the sudden and dramatic decline of affection being thrown her way. "You're doing this because we didn't get you chocolate? You're crying because we made strawberry?" Tonks' eyes widened with realization of the misunderstanding. "What? No, I-"

"We worked so hard on that cake!" Andromeda dabbed at the corners of her eyes, refusing to look at her. "Mom, I didn't mean-!"

"Eat it!" Ted stood, furiously butchering a slab of strawberry cake onto a glass platter, forcing it in her direction. The sudden burst of aggression made her flinch. "Eat it, Dora!"

She shrieked, once again scrambling away from the cake, from the slice of cake crawling with _slimy pink worms!_ "Can't you see them?! Can't you see the worms?!" Tonks whimpered. "What worms?!" Ted stomped, "Dora, just grow up! There are no worms, you make these things up a-and it scares everyone, so just grow up already, okay?" Andromeda's voice cracked with her heartbreak.

"Just eat the cake! Just a bite, and you'll see there are no worms," Ted nodded, his voice considerably calmer as he inched toward her. This time, Tonks did not scream. This time, Tonks drew the cold metal from her waistband her fingers had been lingering toward the past few minutes, and she aimed the barrel of the gun at Ted Tonks.

The shrill screams of relatives reminded Tonks of their presence. She'd done it, she'd really done it, pulled the trigger, shot her dad. Tonks screamed, dropping the gun at her feet as the glass crunched against the rubber soles of her sneakers.

 **Present day**

Tonks found herself tearing up, then crying, then sobbing. Sirius backed up, startled, Remus ran towards her. "Imagination?" She repeated, venom laced in her soft insecure voice. She stared at Sirius so hatefully she suspected she might burn a hole, right through his transparent aristocrat skin. He didn't say anything until Remus picked her up, her head held against his heart and her legs wrapped around his waist. She wished she'd stop crying, she really did, there was still more she had to say.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled lamely, his eyes fixated on her shaking shoulders and muffled sobs but he spoke singularly to the curly haired boy. He only shook his head in return, looking at him in disgust until Sirius couldn't take it anymore, so he left, dazed and confused about what could possibly be so wrong about such a lovely, innocent word.

 **James**

 _He'd done it. He found her. And it was true._ He didn't know why he'd peaked through every dorm on the first three floors to do it, but he had. And there she was, laying as good as dead here in room 181, but she wasn't dead, she wasn't the dying girl either as far as he knew. She was okay, over there in the hospital bed, and him over here, with his nose pressed up against the glass just like he had the first time he saw her.

He supposed he wanted to know what happened, but is wasn't just that. He wanted to know her. She was the first he'd ever seen of death, the first he'd ever thought of it. This girl, his age, could have died. Not like the numbers you saw in the newspaper, not a causality of war or a revenge victim on investigation discovery. He'd watched her, he puked over her, he saw her in flesh and blood and bones. And now he wanted to know what kind of icing she ate on her birthday cake, how she felt about spiders. _Her in the entirety._

He knew the doors were left unlocked, but he was still working up the courage to turn the knob. _Do it, do it before someone sees you, before Molly the secretary comes and drags you away to clean bedpans._ He took a deep breath, _you've done crazier things than break into the hospital room of a coma patient!_ And so he did it, he turned the knob, he walked in, and get this, nothing happened. No Molly, no explosions, nothing.

He didn't realize he was holding his breath until his face went red, and he laughed, laughed at himself for what he's done, went through 181 dorms to find her, a girl he didn't know. _Maybe I should turn myself into the psych ward_. But he didn't stop, he inched calmly toward her until he was sat in the blue plastic chair to her right. Her breathing seemed steady, something he assumed was a good thing. He felt instantly guilty for avoiding learning anything about health.

He didn't realize he'd apologized out loud until he heard himself, his forehead tinting pink. _Look at yourself James, a nervous wreck in front of a sleeping girl. Sirius would be so ashamed._ His stumbled back, hell, he almost fell out of his chair when the corners of her lips twitched into a smile. He waited approximately thirty seconds, trying to tune out the blood pumping in his ears before he spoke. " _H-hello_?" She was still, the curve of her lips still held up. He would of missed it if he wasn't listening so intently, but yes, her lips parted. And she said one word, very clearly one word.

" _Severus?"_

A/N

First off, thank you guys for all the awesome reviews! :)

I'm pretty satisfied with the clip from Tonks' background, I wanted to show how her parents were nice people, but exhausted with Tonks "acting up" when really they just didn't understand. (If you haven't already guessed or missed the beginning of Tonks' POV in chapter one, she is a schizophrenic,) meaning that she interprets reality differently and has trouble separating what's real from imagination, thus the worms in her birthday cake, and the hair dwelling ants, and the golden morning sky whales. I swear, there will be no glorifying Severus, this fic is purely Jily, though I have some interesting angles with him and Lily you'll learn of soon enough. Thanks once again! I'll be sure to update regularly.


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